Chia Continues Growth Push With 5 VP Hires

Chia Network, the smart transaction platform created by BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen, has added five executives across multiple divisions, including sales, product development and professional services, and has nearly doubled its workforce since closing its last venture round in early May.

The San Francisco-based company said in a press release the hirings would help it reach a goal of making deeper inroads into the financial services community. The Chia platform is designed to make crypto financial transactions user-friendly and energy-efficient.

“Chia’s expansion and key talent acquisitions will support our growth and the broader adoption of our cryptocurrency,” Chia President and Chief Operating Officer Gene Hoffman said in the release.

Read more: 5 Takeaways From Chia Network’s New White Paper

The hirings reflect Chia’s promise to spend a good portion of the $61 million it raised in its recent Series D capital round that was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Richmond Global Ventures. Chia now has 40 employees, including the latest newcomers, up from 21 on May 3, the day Chia closed its funding.

“It was also the day that I started trying to hire like a madman,” Hoffman told CoinDesk in a phone interview.

Hoffman expects to add another 30 people by year’s end, about half in research and development and the remainder in “various business roles.” Cohen has for years made clear his intent to take Chia public.

Chia’s latest recruits come from the tech and consulting worlds.

Steve Booth, the new vice president of sales, moved from subscription and recurring revenue services provider Vindicia, along with Trace Galloway, who is vice president of sales engineering.

Paul Hainsworth, who is now vice president of product, was a project manager on Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa unit. J. Eckert, who is vice president of ecosystems operations, served as an executive at software tools developer Genvid Technologies while Ken Griggs, who is senior director of customer success and professional services, worked at Deloitte.

The company’s headcount increase “underscores our trying to build a real software business,” Hoffman said.